A Chicago jury has granted $49.5 million to the relatives of a woman who perished in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX.
On Wednesday evening, the jury allocated $21 million to the family of Samya Stumo for her ordeal during the ill-fated flight, $16.5 million for their loss of companionship, and $12 million to address the family’s sorrow.
This marks the second jury decision related to the tragic crash. Previously, in November, a jury mandated Boeing to compensate over $28 million to the family of a United Nations environmental worker who also lost his life in the 2019 incident.
Boeing has been embroiled in numerous lawsuits following the deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia during 2018 and 2019, which claimed 346 lives.
Stumo, aged 24, was employed by the nonprofit ThinkWell and was en route from Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya, at the time of the crash.
Boeing did not challenge the liability, and claims for punitive damages against company executives and plane component manufacturers were dropped.
Lawyers for the Stumo family are trying to get an appellate court to reinstate punitive damage claims.
The US planemaker has settled more than 90% of the dozens of civil lawsuits related to the two accidents, paying out billions of dollars in compensation through lawsuits, a non-prosecution agreement and other payments.
“While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so,” Boeing said on Thursday.
In March, a US appeals court upheld a ruling approving the Justice Department decision to dismiss a criminal case against Boeing, which allowed the planemaker to avoid prosecution on a charge stemming from the two 737 MAX crashes.
Boeing had agreed to plead guilty in 2024 to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge.
After President Donald Trump took office, DOJ reversed course in May 2025 and dropped the demand for a guilty plea.
Under the deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims fund, on top of a new $243.6 million fine and $455 million to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programs.
